5 Burning Questions For The Green Bay Packers’ Defense

By most measures, the Green Bay Packers’ defense made major strides in 2024.

The Packers jumped from 17^th to sixth in total defense. Green Bay finished sixth in points allowed after placing 10^th in 2023.

The Packers vaulted from 28^th to seventh in rushing defense. And Green Bay forced 31 turnovers (fourth overall) after taking the ball away just 18 times in 2023 (23^rd overall).

First-year defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley was innovative, aggressive and a major upgrade from underwhelming Joe Barry.

“I thought Jeff Hafley did an amazing job coming in here in year one,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said. “Those guys really grew together, and they were a unit. I thought we were playing our best football on defense at the end of the year.”

Now, Hafley’s unit will try to build on their solid, but far-from-spectacular 2024.

Green Bay’s lost nose tackle T.J. Slaton in free agency and released injury prone cornerback Jaire Alexander, who missed or couldn’t finish 38 of the Packers’ last 68 games. Cornerback Nate Hobbs was Green Bay’s biggest addition in free agency.

That means the majority of the defense is back and potentially poised for big things. When training camp begins Wednesday, here are five burning questions for Green Bay’s defense.

1. Is four enough?

Jeff Hafley had to have defensive envy.

Hafley, the Packers’ defensive coordinator, never could get consistent pressure with his front four last season. So Hafley cranked up his blitz percentages on third and long (45.2%) and third and medium (54.4%) situations.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia had one of the lowest blitz percentages in the league, ranking 29th overall at 20.2%. The Eagles still got terrific pressure with four, which was a major reason they became Super Bowl champions.

“We need to affect the quarterback more in our front four, with just four players,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said. “That’s gotta get better if we’re going to accomplish our goals.”

Gutekunst didn’t select a defensive lineman until the fourth round in April’s draft, when he took Texas edge rusher Barryn Sorrell. So last year’s group must crank their games up.

Tackle Kenny Clark is coming off an injury plagued season (foot) that was the worst of his nine-year career (one sack, four TFLs). End Lukas Van Ness played with a broken right thumb and posted disappointing numbers of three sacks, six quarterback hits and six tackles for loss.

Tackle Devonte Wyatt shined early with three sacks in the first four games. Wyatt missed Weeks 5-7 with an ankle injury, though, and had just two sacks the rest of the year.

And while Rashan Gary had a team-high 7.5 sacks and made his first Pro Bowl, he doesn’t finish enough.

Green Bay’s front four of Gary, Clark, Wyatt and Van Ness are all former first round draft picks. Three battled injuries last year and are hoping improved health means greater productivity.

Packers coach Matt LaFleur also fired defensive line coach Jason Rebrovich after the season and hired former New England Patriots defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington.

Green Bay finished ninth in the league with 45 sacks last year. The pressure was inconsistent, though, and Hafley had to get creative with his blitz packages.

“Anytime you can get pass rush with your front four and allows you to play coverage, it makes it extremely difficult on the offense,” LaFleur said.

The Packers need their front four to make things more difficult in 2025.

2. Is Cooper the Packers’ next great linebacker?

In 2009, Green Bay rookie linebacker Clay Matthews finished his first season with a bang, then parlayed that into a 13.5-sack season in 2010.

Could Edgerrin Cooper have similar success in 2025?

Cooper averaged just 14 snaps per game the first four weeks of 2024. He made dramatic strides, though, and finished the year with 13 tackles for loss — which led all NFL linebackers and all rookies.

“He’s special, man,” Packers defensive end Kingsley Enagbare said of Cooper. “I feel like he’s a future Hall of Famer.”

Cooper was second on the Packers with four turnover plays, fifth in sacks (3.5), fifth in passes defensed (four) and sixth in tackles (77). Cooper was also the only player in the NFL with 75-plus tackles, 13-plus tackles for loss, three-plus sacks, an interception, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

Amazingly, Cooper did all that despite playing just 45.1% of the defensive snaps. Now, after bulking up to 240 pounds and maintaining his explosiveness, Cooper could be ready for a huge season.

“He’s locked in and he’s focused,” Hafley said of Cooper. “Now he knows what he’s doing. Your rookie year you’re kind of in survival mode a little bit too. So he just needs to be more consistent. He’s gotta stay healthy and continue to improve and he’s a guy that we’re really excited about because he can do a lot of different things too.”

3. Can the corners hold up?

Green Bay’s top three cornerbacks of Keisean Nixon, Nate Hobbs and Carrington Valentine probably won’t cause sleepless nights for offensive coordinators. The group should be able to play winning football, though.

Jaire Alexander didn’t play after Week 11 last season, meaning the Packers went with Nixon and Valentine down the stretch. Green Bay allowed a respectable 18.4 points and 225.6 passing yards in those eight games.
The Packers then signed free agent corner Nate Hobbs to a four-year, $48 million contact in March. While many believe cornerback is Green Bay’s weakest positional group, the Packers seem to feel otherwise.

“We feel pretty good about our group right now,” Gutekunst said. “The guys that we have in that room, they’ve got some pelts on the wall, so to speak, as far as what they’ve been able to do in the National Football League. So, we’ll kind of see how that goes.”

There is reason for optimism.

Nixon posted career-highs in tackles (88), tackles for loss (eight) and sacks (three) last season. He also had a team-leading three forced fumbles.

Valentine started the final seven games for the oft-injured Alexander and finished with his first two career interceptions, forced two fumbles and added five passes defensed.

And the versatile Hobbs can play outside or inside, but must clean up his missed tackle rate of 22.2%.

“Guys hungry, want to play ball,” Nixon said. “I played with Nate (in Las Vegas). C.V. (Valentine) is ready to go. I played every playoff game since I’ve been here with C.V. Secondary is good.”

4. Can the turnovers continue?

One reason the Packers’ defense fared as well as they did last season was their ability to take the ball away.

Green Bay forced 31 turnovers, which ranked fourth in the league. That was also the Packers’ most takeaways since 2011, when they had 38.

Green Bay’s 17 interceptions were the fourth-most in football. And its 14 fumble recoveries ranked third.

“We get to play with vision on the quarterback, and I love doing that,” Packers safety Xavier McKinney said last season. “And I know we do as a defense because we’re able to play with our instincts, we’re able to call out different things, see different things and be able to just trust in what we see and go out there and make a play.”

The Packers averaged 22.7 takeaways per season under coordinator Joe Barry from 2021-’23, including just 18 in 2023. Green Bay also averaged 19.3 takeaways per season under coordinator Mike Pettine (2018-2020) and 27.9 under coordinator Dom Capers (2009-2017).

McKinney was an enormous reason for Green Bay’s improvement, as he finished with eight interceptions, a fumble recovery and was named first-team All-Pro. Cornerbacks Keisean Nixon (three forced fumbles, one interception) and Carrington Valentine (two interceptions, two forced fumbles) were also part of four turnover plays.

Can it continue? At least one returnee believes so.

“I’m not going to lie: We’re going to be dangerous,” second year safety Javon Bullard said. “We’re going to be dangerous. And I’m not just saying that. We’re going to be a special group.”

5. Big games, little performances

As good as Green Bay’s defense was in Hafley’s first season, the unit failed miserably in big games.

The Packers allowed 28.7 points and 361.2 yards per game in their six contests against NFC powers Detroit, Minnesota and Philadelphia. Not surprisingly, Green Bay was 0-6 in those games.

The fewest points the Packers’ allowed in those games was 22 against Philadelphia in their Wild Card loss. And that total would have been higher if Eagles running back Saquon Barkley hadn’t turned down a 59-yard touchdown run late in the game, choosing instead to fall down to help run out the clock.

“I can’t sit up here and say we’re on the same level if we ain’t beat them,” safety Xavier McKinney said of Green Bay’s subpar performances against the NFC’s elite. “In order to be on the same level, you gotta beat these teams.”

Quarterbacks Jared Goff, Sam Darnold and Jalen Hurts combined to throw 14 touchdown passes and five interceptions against Green Bay in those six contests. And the Packers dug themselves double digit deficits in five of those six games after allowing an average of 17.0 points in the first half.

“Big games all year, we didn’t finish,” cornerback Keisean Nixon said. “We’ve got to learn how to finish. It doesn’t matter how good our roster is or who we’ve got on our team. The other players are good, too. We’ve got to learn how to finish. We learn how to finish, we’re going to be Super Bowl ready.”